adverbs - Why do you say "so do I"?


Why is the order of the words in "so do I" or "nor do I" different from the normal order?



Answer



With respect to information structure, this word order pattern seems to be equal to fronted adverbials, as in:



Into the room walked a man



The new information / focus follows the finite verb. Similarly, in "So do I", "so" refers to the proposition in the previous utterance, "do" is a dummy verb, and "I", the new information, comes last.


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